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INTERVIEW: Hardwell at TomorrowWorld

Over the last few years, Hardwell has quickly taken over the dance music scene. Every track he makes ends up topping the charts, and he continues to be a staple at every festival and club all over the world.

We caught up with Hardwell before his set on the main stage at TomorrowWorld, where he talked about his "I Am Hardwell" tour and upcoming documentary premiere at ADE, remixing Thirty Seconds to Mars, and his next big vocal song. Check it out below:

Are you looking forward to playing on the TomorrowWorld main stage?

Well, I’ve prepared a lot of new stuff. I think I’m going to play like 90% of unreleased tracks this time. If the festival is [as] big as Tomorrowland in Belgium, we're gonna expect the best of the best. You know, it is one of the leading festivals right now in the world. So yeah, really excited to be here. Really excited to go on stage in a bit.

We’re going Tomorrowland and Ultra you trending world-wide, so it do you think it’s going to happen again?

Let’s hope so! I hope we can achieve the same thing again. It’s always fun, after my set, to see all the interaction with the fans, and I think that’s really important, that everybody just watching the set interacts with each other. Let’s see what’s going to happen.

You debuted "I am Hardwell" in Amsterdam for over 4,500 people. How is the tour?

Yeah, well, the whole tour, the whole "I am Hardwell" tour so far has sold out now. I just came from Asia. We did like Indonesia, India, and China. It’s going really well, actually, and it’s amazing to actually have the opportunity just to tour around the world with your own concert, your own concept. Yeah, it’s amazing so far. London is next week. Legendary place, by the way, Brixton Academy. And next year we’re going to continue "I am Harwell" in the States. So that’s really exciting.

The red carpet premiere of the documentary will be at ADE coming up. What can we expect to see in the film?

The documentary is about Robert and about Hardwell. So it’s like my personal life and on the other hand it’s my DJ career. My video guy Robin Piree, has been following me for the last three years, so it’s actually the rise from a kid from Holland who was playing around ‘till like right now, and it’s the whole ride, you know? It’s like we're taking you on a journey, and it’s everything. It’s the ups and downs, so I think it’s not only about the success, it's about the whole career, what happened.

Do you have a favorite part in the documentary?

Not yet, actually. I, Actually, I think I have that seen it two times now, and there was not even a finished version. So I think I have to see the finished version before I can pick my favorite scene.

We can't wait to find out who Robert is and who Hardwell is in "I Am Hardwell" the documentary. If you were to describe yourself in three words, what would they be?

Happy, energetic, and forward-thinking.

You've had so many number ones, most recently with Blasterjaxx, and also with W&W. How did you like working with W&W on "Jumper?"

Well, W&W are really good friends of mine. They’re amazing DJs and producers, and actually when we were in Australia, we did the Future Music tour together and we had like three days off or a couple of days off. And yeah, we just [sat] there together in the hotel room, and we actually made "Jumper" like in three days. The whole song was finished. With Blasterjaxx blasting, I actually recently met them. They sent me some tracks on my label revealed, and I picked up some of the tracks. Then we finished the track "Fifteen," and I decided to make another version of it. And that's actually how everything came together.

And congratulations, you were just named Best Electro DJ at the Ibiza Awards. How do you feel about that?

Amazing! Ibiza is always something special and, the competition was really big. You had Armin and Tiesto, Afrojack, Swedish House Mafia, everybody was like nominated. So to win in such a big category, it’s an amazing feeling. I’m really thankful to all my fans who voted for me.

You’re remixing Thirty Seconds to Mars?

Well the remix is like ... I think I finished it like two days before I came to the States. We're waiting on approval from the band, so I hope we can approve it. I’m really happy with the results. I can’t say which one it is. But I’m a huge fan of Thirty Seconds to Mars. It’s a new single from the album.

You said you’re set tonight is 90% new music. What do you have coming up?

The release that is next up is going to be released in a week. That’s my collaboration with MAKJ, a new guy from L.A., it's called "Countdown." I think everybody knows the track who has seen the Ultra and Tomorrowland videos, because I’ve played it [at] both festivals.

Next up, I’m going to premier my new single, my new vocal single, during ADE. I’m really excited about that one because I’m normally not working that much with vocals, and this is my first song, instead of an underground track. It’s a full vocal song. Something like, "Don’t You Worry Child." So for me it’s something new, and it’s kind of an experiment. I’m really excited for ADE. Just to see like the reactions of people.